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>Hello all,
>
>This is my first post to the Loopers Delight mailing list. I've been
>using a beefed up (32 sec) JamMan to do loop based music live for about
>3 years. I currently play guitar/midi guitar in an ambient band called
>Sleeping and an experimental dance/techno project called Zero Crossing.
>(yes I bow to the Gods Fripp and Eno) Both are based in the
>Syracuse/Ithaca NY area.
>
Welcome! Your ambient band should do a show with my ambient band Sleep
Deprivation, just to really confuse the audience.
>So here's my question: We're about to add a new member to Zero
>Crossing. He will be manning a sampler and has recently purchased a
>JamMan. I've been synching my JamMan, via MIDI, to the MIDI clock of an
>Ensonic TS-10 keyboard. So far no complaints, except the inability to
>synch to multiples of 5 and 7. Yeah, I know, get an Echoplex. I intend
>to take the MIDI out of the TS-10 and go through his JamMan into the
>keyboard's new Yamaha board (not sure which model) and then finally into
>my JamMan. Are we going to run into any synching problems? If so are
>there work arounds?
Yes, you will have syncing problems. I've experimented with 2 JamMen this
way. The problem is that the JamMan does not re-send the MIDI clock it
recieves, it generates a new MIDI clock based on its internal clock, and
sends this down the line. So the second JamMan is not going to sync to the
original source, it will sync to the first JamMan, the second seems to sync
at 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4 the tempo of the original sync source. And if the first
JamMan is in loop mode, and it hasn't recorded a loop yet, it's not sending
any clock at all, so if you want to record a loop before the person with
the first JM, you can't. My solution has been to use a MIDI splitter after
the clock source (in my case a Roland MC 303 groovebox), with one stream
sent to our guitarists jamman, and one sent to my rack.
But, I've been wondering lately if there's a more versatile solution to
this. Right now, everything assumes we're going to sync to one device, the
MC303, but I think this is kind of limiting. I can see several different
possibilities:
The current setup, with the MC driving both JMen
One of the JMen acting as sync source for both the MC and the other JMan.
One of the JMen in "free range" mode, with no sync, while the MC and other
JMan are synced.
All three units in free range mode, for chatic overlapping loops.
So, how do we do this? Right now, I leave my JMan synce all the time, and
unplug the guitarist's JMan from the MIDI splitter when he doesn't want to
be synced. I suppose a programmable MIDI patchbay, like a JL Cooper or
something could handle this, but that seems to be more complexity than I
want to add to our already too-complex setup.
>
>My other question is what all this about jammidimystery? I've been
>running my JamMan in stereo since the beginning without a problem (I
>think?) Am I misunderstanding the problem? Be patient with me, I'm a
>newbie.
Other people here can, and hopefully will, explain this better than I can,
but the JamMan only loops in mono, and it sends the same loop out of both
outputs. It does pass any stereo inputs through in stereo, but if you loop
a stereo source, the 2 channels will be summed to mono. If you want to loop
in true stereo, you need to sync 2 JamMen together, except you can't
because JamMen don't sync together very well. The EchoPlex has a feature
called Brother Sync, which lets you use 2 plexi on each side of a stereo
signal.
>
>Also, I'm contemplating trading up to the Echoplex. Any suggestions on
>what I might ask for my 32 sec JamMan? Anyone interested? Any used
>Echoplexes out there? What should I expect to pay for the Echoplex?
>I've seen the $560 price at the Loopers Delight webpage. Is this
>realistic?
Yeah, the used 32 second JamMan is worth about $50, and I'll take it off
your hands if you ship it to me....
Just kidding, the Jboys are getting pretty rare these days, and I haven't
seen one for sale for a while, and I think the last one I saw was going for
around $250.
>
>And for Kim, I haven't yet seen the name Bill Laswell here @ Loopers
>Delight. Much of his music involves looping and is quite beautiful.
>Look for stuff on his Axiom/Subharmonic label.
>
It's not for my lack of mentioning him, at one time or another I've owned
just about every record he's put out (no small feat), and while his hit
ratio hovers at less than 50%, his good stuff is among the best there is.
OK, enough bandwidth already...
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Dave Trenkel : improv@peak.org : www.peak.org/~improv/
"...there will come a day when you won't have to use
gasoline. You'd simply take a cassette and put it in
your car, let it run. You'd have to have the proper
type of music. Like you take two sticks, put 'em
together, make fire. You take some notes and rub 'em
together - dum, dum, dum, dum - fire, cosmic fire."
-Sun Ra
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